= Can we say the reason Doctor has companions is because (1) it works for the show, and (2) he's kinda lonely?

= Hated Donna's first ep (actually, the Christmas episodes are kinda 'iffy'), but I'm loving her now. After three sort-of "love interests", and even though I love some romance, I'm glad Donna is just good fun.I am looking forward to the Amy/Rory saga though. Sounds like they have enough plot even on their own.

= "I'm waving at fat..." -Donna

= Blink was freaking *awesome*. MAN! That was an intense 45 minutes -- a surprise for a "stand-alone", mid-season episode. The concept was simple, the results were fantastic. I hear it's not the end we see of them, but I loved how well it ties up loose ends as well (despite the parado--..eugh, whatever, it is what it is by this point in the show). ...And ironically very little of the Doctor and Martha. It was well filmed, well developed, and the suspense and solution were perfect. Any other episodes you guys are especially keen on?

= Speaking of Martha: Egh. She has more spunk than Rose, I think, but was weighed down by her unrequited love for The Doctor which came up way too often, and kept going on with the same results. Immediately after Rose, he was mourning, but after Martha he was happy to see Astrid! I think it's because Martha was black and the Doctor was racist. >:(juuuust kidding

= Loved the "Gridlock" episode as a great satire on what it is to be stuck in traffic. I am freaked out by a human woman and a cat-man having actual "KITTEN" children....Is that racist/xenophobic of me? D:

= I LOOVE Captain Jack. And I love his "sexual preference": If it's hot, it's good enough.

= A huge "omg" face went to revealing him as the Face of Boe. Amazing! Does that mean if humans live to 5 billion years we just turn into giant heads? ...stunning

= The idea with the "organic sun" was interesting, but probably would have played better if it played BEFORE the "Impossible Planet/Satan Pit"; they were somewhat similar in atmosphere but the latter played out much better.

= This show uses henchmen on a more ridiculous level than Batman's villains do.

I have been. Next story for me is the one where the second Doctor regenerates into the third. (The older stuff generally consists of stories that are several episodes long.)

If you love the current stuff, there's a strong chance you'd like the old stuff. Some of it, at least. There's some real crap back then too.

Part of what I like is seeing how the Doctor changes from actor to actor. The first Doctor is very much the cranky grandpa. He knows a lot, and cracks jokes sometimes, but he's pretty self-centered and impatient, too.

The second Doctor is much happier. His companions (especially Jamie) are his friends. Matt Smith, if I understand correctly, loves that Doctor, and it shows.

River is an awesome character that I feel they took a bit too far. The more I saw of her, the less I liked her. I guess I just dug the mystery aspect the most? Not sure.

Glad you're enjoying it so much, Dice. I've never bothered with any Who before the current iteration. It just looks so....corny. I work with a guy who seen it all, and likes to talk about it, but I kind of glaze over when he does.

River is an awesome character that I feel they took a bit too far. The more I saw of her, the less I liked her. I guess I just dug the mystery aspect the most? Not sure.

Glad you're enjoying it so much, Dice. I've never bothered with any Who before the current iteration. It just looks so....corny. I work with a guy who seen it all, and likes to talk about it, but I kind of glaze over when he does.

Don't. there's a lot of amazing Who out there besides the current iteration. Yes, some of it is corny, some of it is not. But come on, there has been some ultra corny modern Who too. Doctor's 2-6 are all worth watching, IMO. Yes, it goes up and down, but hasn't it always? Second half of Tom Baker's run alone absolutely rivals any modern Who... easily better than Moffet's fairy tails. Put aside the lack of 21st century special effects and you'll find a program that's full of great dialog and characters, and knows it's technical limitations enough to not be cheesy most of the time.

As for River, yeah, they kinda ruined her. Silence in the Library is possibly my favorite Doctor Who episode(s) ever. Return of the Angels was also very strong, after that, it all went down hill. She got way too timey wimey, and their insistence at shoving you her and the Doctor's relationship every second got a little... LOT old.

I remembered River from ER. Damn she's aging beautifully (ie; not at all). I loved those two episodes, btw. Strange, but good and poignant. I'm sad that, from what it seems, she gets ruined as she goes on... bah.

I assume the Agatha Christie episode is better when you're familiar with her books (I'm not). Otherwise....wasps happen.

I just watched "Midnight". Hmm, it's a strong episode, but I think it needed one more [scary] "thing" to happen before the resolution came, it otherwise seemed like there wasn't much of a threat? The ambiguity doesn't help the episode either; it's almost too much mystery with no real facts by the end of it. Nevertheless, it works on other levels of how mob mentality works, how people get stupid when they're scared, and how the doctor's ass is often saved in mysterious ways (Molto Bene!). The last bit with Donna was well played, and a great example of how minimalism can work in a show (I find when most shows decide on "that kind" of episode, it's usually well thought out).

Other random commentary:= Much better OST since the first episode which was some sort of synth keyboard crap (still, it was a great episode).= I think what I love the most is how cool the Psychic Paper is....for what looks like the lowest budget prop on that show. xD= http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Blue-Tardis-Mini-Fridge/dp/B00B3YJGAW I need this in my life now...NOW= Donna's physique perplexes me. She's thin everywhere...but the waist (the body also works in mysterious ways too)= I generally hate big change-ups, and certainly Doctor Who's premise deals a lot IN THAT. Yet, I'm surprised how well written each new Doctor and companion is so that I tend to grow attached to any iteration or companion

I really appreciate the input about the older episodes, I don't know if I want to make time for ALL of them; but maybe I'll find a list that ranks a few of the better ones

Might be a minority opinion here but unless you have any way to watch all of Series 7, the anniversary movie, AND the following Christmas special you might want to hold off on Series 5 +.

Edit: You know what? I'm just going to spoiler code this in case you want to go in full blind without any preconceptions. It holds no spoilers but it's 'negative nancy' opinion; so caveat emptor's given for free here.

Series 6 was kinda wretched in most departments. Without spoiling anything; plot's shakey (pacing suffers from the fact that they split the season into two arcs due to Summer/Winter airing divide), writing is fairly weak with clue-hammers thrown en masse at the audience the size of double deckers (it makes S2's 'Torchwood' keyword look subtle by comparison), and certain character arcs drift on for waaaay too long with a resolution that isn't a resolution that sorta is that turns into another resolution that also isn't quite a resolution...ect.

Personally speaking it was bad enough to drive me off from the series entirely to the point of just reading the Wiki once in a blue moon. Even then I wasn't going to give the show another go until I read the summary for the ani. movie and the Christmas special. Those salvaged the wreck enough that I'll likely pick the series up again when Netflix decides to finally update the Doctor Who entry.

TL;DR- S6 is pretty awful unless you have S7+ to counterbalance it, then it becomes passable when it's not the last flavor left in your mouth.

Might be a minority opinion here but unless you have any way to watch all of Series 7, the anniversary movie, AND the following Christmas special you might want to hold off on Series 5 +.

Edit: You know what? I'm just going to spoiler code this in case you want to go in full blind without any preconceptions. It holds no spoilers but it's 'negative nancy' opinion; so caveat emptor's given for free here.

Disagree, season 6 is enjoyable. Hell, it has my favorite episode of all time in it (The Doctor's Wife).

Might be a minority opinion here but unless you have any way to watch all of Series 7, the anniversary movie, AND the following Christmas special you might want to hold off on Series 5 +.

Edit: You know what? I'm just going to spoiler code this in case you want to go in full blind without any preconceptions. It holds no spoilers but it's 'negative nancy' opinion; so caveat emptor's given for free here.

Disagree, season 6 is enjoyable. Hell, it has my favorite episode of all time in it (The Doctor's Wife).

Agreed on Season 6. I liked it well enough. It's season 7 that goes off the rails. Then there's the downright awful Christmas special. Ugh.

So far I haven't particularly *loved* a Christmas episode. They're ranged from "meh" to "ok".

MAN!! Why did Donna have to go?!?!? I loved her character growth and to actually lose it all is simply tragic. She really went from unlikable to loveable. And again, the show is good at constructing reasons for it; they don't feel terribly contrived.

Though I think Rose getting a copy of the Doctor was almost too good for her... Rejecting David Tennant's perfect Doctor Clone because it's STILL not the original? >=( What a wench! But seriously though, I'm glad she got her happy ending, she fought hard for itI definitely liked the Stolen Planet end-season better than the "Other Doctor" one (with YANA). That three-parter was weird. The first episode was good, the second one better, then the third episode kinda fell apart... I felt like they could have used the concept of him a wee bit better. Anyways, Stolen Planet had some good action/moments; I think it helps to go into it with the better know-how of the Sarah Jane Chronicles and Torchwood, but still cool to see a big ensemble.

It's gone, you can't love it anymore, all those years of emotional investment are cut off in a snap.

Immediately someone pops up and says "Hey, I bought you a new dog that looks just like your dead dog. Here!"

It might bark like your dog. It might be the same breed. It might even prance the same, wag its tail the same, and raid your toilet all the same.

But it's not 'your' dog. It will never be 'your' dog.

In time and with healing it will eventually be 'your new dog'. But to expect someone to just up and go 'Oh, hey, new dog. All's cool!' on the spot, like a lot of fans expected Rose to do with Doctor 2.0, ...I don't think so.Oh and fun factoid about that moment.

The Doctor technically gave Doctor 2.0 a piece of the Tardis to grow. So new Doctor and Rose get to havetheir own parallel universe adventures. It's a scene that didn't quite make it into the final cut.

It might be. I haven't had the DVDs in forever sadly. Those got traded in to pay bills a bit after S5 was released. Kinda miss them but I don't have $1000-ish to shell out and re-complete the collection (still no idea why these things need to nearly be $100 a pop).

It's gone, you can't love it anymore, all those years of emotional investment are cut off in a snap.

Immediately someone pops up and says "Hey, I bought you a new dog that looks just like your dead dog. Here!"

It might bark like your dog. It might be the same breed. It might even prance the same, wag its tail the same, and raid your toilet all the same.

But it's not 'your' dog. It will never be 'your' dog.

In time and with healing it will eventually be 'your new dog'. But to expect someone to just up and go 'Oh, hey, new dog. All's cool!' on the spot, like a lot of fans expected Rose to do with Doctor 2.0, ...I don't think so.Oh and fun factoid about that moment.

The Doctor technically gave Doctor 2.0 a piece of the Tardis to grow. So new Doctor and Rose get to havetheir own parallel universe adventures. It's a scene that didn't quite make it into the final cut.

O_o That is the opposite reason of why I thought she got fan hate over that sequence....

The reason I'm familiar with her getting hate over the scene is because Doctor 2.0 whispers that "he loves her" and she immediately smooches him despite her previous protests over how it wasn't the Doctor. Making her come off as extremely shallow or something.

Also, the whole giving them a piece of the Tardis makes me hate the sequence even more. So I am glad that didn't make the final cut. God damn it Russel T. Davies, I don't like your Mary Sue. >.>